Hingis-Daniela Pair Wins at Carlsbad

Former world no. 1 Martina Hingis teamed up with Daniela Hantuchova for a doubles victory over Julia Goerges and Darija Jurak.

CARLSBAD: Former world number one Martina Hingis may not be contemplating a return to WTA singles play, but she got her doubles comeback off to a quick start on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old Swiss great played her first WTA match since 2007 at the Southern California Open, teaming with Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova for a 6-1, 6-1 doubles victory over Germany's Julia Goerges and Croatian Darija Jurak.

Hingis has retired twice, first at the age of 22 in 2003 and again in November of 2007 -- which ended a comeback she launched in 2005. Hingis has said she'll play doubles with Hantuchova at the US Open, the year's final Grand Slam.

But she said Wednesday she wasn't contemplating a return to singles play. "Not singles, no," she said. "It's a completely different world. Even World Team Tennis now, it's brutal, it's only one set but still the next day you wake up, and you have to put so much more effort into it."

Hingis, who won five Grand Slam singles titles and nine in doubles and was ranked number one in the world for a total of 209 weeks, said she didn't think she had the appetite for the training that would be necessary to a singles career.

And having been at the pinnacle of the women's game while still a teenager, she can't see herself putting in the work if she's not going to be a regular contender.

"When you're 17 everything seems so easy, but now I'm almost twice the age," Hingis said. "I wouldn't want to come out and play one or two matches and then lose third round, that's not my type of personality."

Hingis said it was "kind of weird" to be playing only doubles, but she said she thought she was ready after playing World Team Tennis regularly. She helped the Washington Kastles win the WTT league title in July.

"I feel pretty good. We'll see how it goes this summer," she said. "Obviously I wouldn't put myself in this position if I didn't feel like I could compete at this level."